The inside scoop on food in Los Angeles

Scene Setter: Sweet Love Hangover has a cure

October 7, 2009 | 1:00
pm

It's 3 a.m. You've just danced yourself silly in a sweaty Hollywood nightclub with a heavily cologned person whose name you no longer remember. Maybe it was the Jagerbombs, or maybe it was the bottle of table-service Grey Goose you shared with, well, mainly yourself. Either way, tomorrow is going to be problematic if you don't put some food in your stomach, stat.

Then you see it: a candy-colored vision of a restaurant shimmering like a mirage above the sidewalk stars on Hollywood Boulevard. It's called Sweet Love Hangover, and it specializes in your cure: grease. Tasty, peace-making grease. A fried bologna and jack cheese sandwich with Tabasco mayo will set you straight. You might just top it off with a fried egg for good measure. Still cloudy? A tater tot tower topped with black bean chili, cheddar cheese, chunky guacamole, sour cream and thick slices of fresh jalapeños will clear your vision.

"We used the drunk people to test the food," says food and beverage consultant Triniti Vinokur, who runs the month-old diner (still in soft-open mode) with her husband, Rob. "Because if they don't like it, we know it's really bad."